Life has been crazy and I've moved back across the country, once more nestled among the mountains in Eastern Standard time (as of 20 weeks ago now), but Coby's Choice remains a constant. And so, I give you all this latest chapter! (To everyone reading this now: a very Merry Christmas or whatever you celebrate!)

Thank you all: Alex P, Andrew Bohl, Animephilosopher1, Ankhseram123, Anna Khuu, Ant Franklin, Badmr7, Cam Bliss, Christopher Mitchell, Clark Kent, Claude Walker, Cordell Sanders, Cory Johnston, Darko129, Dave Gh, David Bowling, David Reynolds, Emi Stafford, Eric Bandel, Eugene Malone Jr., EvilJelly, Fenrir ragnarok, Garvin Lee Nelson-Mathlin, GODA98, Illiasse Naji, Inucbus, Jacob McCarthy, JEP1010, Jkat, John Mekjian, Jonathan Moh, Jordanitos, Joseph Baty, Joseph Morrison, Joseph Vargas, Joshua Groves, Julien digot, Kcx1, Kevin Calderon, Korakas, Kyo Anamoto, Lamont Hale, Marielle Orff, Markoos, Matthew Burley, McBanjo, Mcgin28, Milagros Peres Davila, Milla, Neridian, Rafael Cardenas, Ranger Ellis, Richard Barkley, Riley Bolerjack, Ryuu, Sasha, TheWolfThatExist, Thomas Sanders, Tom Peissig, ToonTownTourist, Ty Chaos, and ViewtifulSoul!

Chapter 35:

Monsters and Children

"Anyway," Coby said, "first a dragon, then a harpy, and now some kind of centaur. It's like this master wants to make their own bastardized fairytale creatures come to life."

"I say we go back to the Sunny and sail away!" Usopp voted, a hand raised. The Green Star: Devil started to brown and wither from the heat, leaving the incapacitated would-be assassin mostly unharmed in its maw.

"While I disagree with just leaving, I would like to check up on the others," Merry said. "We can drop off the dragon egg and plan our next move."

"As long as we aren't leaving before I kick someone's ass," Luffy agreed. "Alright, back to the ship!"

"Where the Hell is Sunny‽" Luffy demanded, the Ladybug sitting at the top of the cloud bridge Nami had created to get them to the island. The space that had held their anchored brig sloop was empty save for a couple pockets of burning water (a concept Merry was still trying to comprehend) and fish skeletons held up by boiling water.

"They wouldn't just leave," Coby muttered, the squishy egg in his arms. "They haven't moved away to get out of the heat, either. I would be able to sense them otherwise. Their spirits are pretty hard to miss at this range."

"That only leaves us with one option," Merry growled, punching a fist into her palm. "Someone must have kidnapped and ship-napped them... Pirate-napped?"

"But who and why?" Usopp questioned. "And how?"

"Doesn't matter," Zoro grunted, fiddling with his swords. "Whoever it is, though, they're probably working with the swordsman the legs are after."

"Let us not forget the presence of the wingéd harpy and the giraffe centaur," Robin reminded them. She tilted her head, resting her cheek on one palm. "Oh dear, I do hope the others haven't been abducted for painful and torturous experimentation designed to transfigure them into hideous, mythological monstrosities… Although, I could imagine Nami taking to being a siren rather well."

"Or a demon," the verdet swordsman grumbled.

"Franky, Brook, and Chopper are kind of already monsters," Coby thought aloud. "If I had to equate Chopper to something from mythology… maybe a minotaur?"

"Becoming a harpy would probably help Amy a lot," Merry considered. "I mean, she can already fly pretty well. Maybe an angel instead. I think she'd like to keep her hands, but if she had wings…"

"Our dear swordsman is already a cyclops," Robin said, Zoro batting away her attempts to pat his head for emphasis.

"Ok, but can we get back to our crewmates‽" Usopp demanded. "They're kind of, you know, missing!"

"We could scour the island by foot," Coby began, "but the various Observation Hakis and likewise that we have between us should help immensely. The problem there is for it to be most effective is for us to split into different groups. Instead, we should try to find the most likely place they were taken and move from there."

"I thought it was obvious," Luffy said. "If they aren't here, then they're where the bird-thing went."

The crew blinked. They blinked again.

"Captain Luffy has a pretty good point," Merry agreed, the words tasting funny in her mouth. "Plus, I'm getting tired of this heat. We should start our search by heading to the snowy side."

"Should we try calling them?" Coby asked.

"I do not believe that would be beneficial," Robin put in. "Should our enemy have confiscated their transponder snails, all the action would accomplish would be to inform their captors of our approach. Discretion is our ally in this instance."

"Yes, discretion," Usopp nodded. "Discretion is good. It helps us not get killed. I like discretion."

"Alright, turn around!" Luffy ordered, Coby spinning the Ladybug's steering wheel. "To the snowy side!"

Grace lifted Ace's hat and ruffled his hair, only then noticing that Billy was also shivering from the weather. "Come on. Now that I've taken care of these guys, we can go get changed for the snow. We'll figure out what to do after that."

"Ok," Ace replied, Billy turning and heading for the door. He didn't quite make it, the large duck tripping over something he'd thought would be just a slightly-taller snowbank. A certain crown-like hat on an afro rolled out, leaving a track in the snow.

"Wah?" the bird questioned.

"It's Grandpa Brook's head!" Ace said, pointing. As they three watched, Brook's head snored, a sleep bubble forming from his nose hole only to freeze quickly.

"He'll wake up pretty quickly," Grace commented. "Let's go change clothes, Ace."

"Kay!"

Grace stepped out of the ship's insides dressed in a colorful, woolen coat that went all the way down to her calves, a beanie with a little puffball at the top, and a warm gator that covered her nose and mouth. Billy at her side wore a set of specially-made red gear including a vest under his saddle, legwarmers, and a red-and-white ushanka.

Ace was, as usual, seated on his back, the little boy wearing a brown coat with monkey ears on the hood and a Velcro mouth covering to keep the cold from biting his lips and nose. Said covering boasted the muzzle of a monkey. His orange hat hung from his neck by a string, having slipped off his hood without the boy noticing. A red, yellow, and orange scarf danced in the cold wind, part of it covering his mask.

"Dear me!" Brook jumped as they stepped onto the deck. "I thought I was alone on the ship!"

"We managed to avoid the ambush since we were inside," Grace told the skeleton, said skeleton seated on the deck's bench with a cup of tea. "Do you know what happened?"

"The memories are hazy," Brook admitted. "I remember we were discussing Nami's analysis of the clouds, but my memory fails me afterward. I suppose these individuals had something to do with it?" Brook gestured to the men in the hazmat suits scattered across the area, the falling snow already starting to bury them little by little.

"They knocked everyone out with sleeping gas," Grace nodded. "I managed to keep it away with my chem powers and turn it against them."

"It was awesome, Grandpa Brook!" Ace said, his words a little muffled by his scarf. "They were all like 'shing!' and 'she's a pie-rate! Get her!' and all that, but Auntie Grace beat 'em up like 'ba-bam! Pew-pew!' It was so cool!"

"My word!" Brook gasped, a hand over his ribcage where his heart use to be. "I daresay I'm disappointed to have missed it!"

"Say, Brook…" Grace began, turning the undead's attention to her. "You don't have lungs anymore, so you don't need to breathe. Right?"

"That is true," the skeleton nodded. "Why do you ask?"

"Oh, it's nothing. Nothing at all. Just a small question." Grace's smile tightened. "If you don't need to breathe, nor do you have blood or muscles, then why did the gas affect you?"

"I…" Brook would have blinked if he still had eyelids. "Well, you see… Th-That is to say… I… have no idea."

Grace pinched the bridge of her nose, screwing her eyes shut. Her voice was a controlled hiss, the young woman artificially calming herself lest she do something in front of Ace. "Brook, you are nothing but bones and hair. Chemical hallucinogens and anesthetics shouldn't have any affect on you. You only got knocked out because you saw the others getting knocked out and convinced yourself that, logically, you should pass out, too."

"That is preposterous," the afro'd skeleton denied. "By that logic, I should not sleep."

"You don't need to sleep! You only do it because you tell yourself to! This is a mind-over-matter instance!"

"But I no longer have a mind!" Brook rebuffed, opening his skull to show its empty insides.

"Giihihihi!" Ace laughed, clapping his mitten-clad hands. Grace sighed again.

"Ace, stay here with Brook and wait for Sunny to wake up. Billy, you're coming with me. We need to get a lay of the land before something else goes wrong."

"Wah!" the Gigafowl saluted, Ace clambering off his back. The first thing the boy did was plop himself into the snow and start moving his arms and legs, making a snow angel. Grace allowed herself a small smile at the scene before climbing into the saddle.

"You think you can handle this snow, Billy?" she asked.

"Wah!" the duck answered, turning his neck to look at her. He gave her a nod. "Wa-wah!"

"Fair enough," Grace responded, not knowing what he was trying to say but trusting him all the same. "Let's get going, then. I'd like to find some of the others as soon at possible."

"Wah!" Billy spread his wings, taking to the air with a short run.

"Good luck, Auntie Grace and Billy!" Ace waved.

"Indeed!" Brook echoed. "Best of luck!"

The pair spiraled upward, the colors of the Sunny below getting smaller but no less distinct amidst the perpetual white of the snow. A grey mountain loomed in the distance, trying to hide in the flurry. Biting winds whipped against Grace's cheekbones and forehead, the young woman pulling her hat lower in an attempt to preserve heat. It did little to fight the cold, but the feel of the wool against her lifted her spirits. She felt like she'd grasped a little bit of control in this out-of-control situation.

"Alright, Billy!" she yelled, making sure her voice didn't get lost in the howling wind. "I'd like to make a full rotation of that mountain before we come back! We need to get a layout of the island before we do anything!"

Her mount nodded, banking to the right to follow the wind. The snowy tundra stretched out below them, an unbroken expanse of nothing, but the storm started to lessen as they went, several minutes bringing a tinge of red through the snow.

"Wah?" the bird questioned.

"I don't know; let's check it out."

Billy flapped, increasing his speed as the pair approached. The red grew, the snowstorm lightening until it was only a small flurry. Maybe a hundred yards ahead of them stretched a lake, perfectly circular with two lines like rivers connecting it to the ocean on either side. It was massive as well, Billy needing to rise to the point where breathing was getting difficult to see its full scope. The other bank of the lake was red, such marking the burning half of the island.

"Well, we have an idea of where some of the others are now!" the art thief commented. "Come on, Billy! Let's complete our route and get back to the Sunny! We can make a plan indoors!"

"Wah!" the bird agreed, turning to continue their chosen path.

As they got closer to it, Grace noted that the mountain was not completely natural. Several massive tubes were set into its side, each labeled with a number. One labeled PH-006 had a massive hole in it, suggesting whatever might live inside were not the original owners. The upper part of the mountain, facing away from where the Sunny was docked, was littered with dark openings, grey pipes running between them.

"That's weird!" the human said. "Billy!"

The Gigafowl turned, coming in to land on one of the platforms before the uppermost opening. It was ten feet tall, a hollow groaning coming from within as the wind blew past. Grace and Billy looked at each other before she urged the duck forward, the Gigafowl landing on the platform and stepping into the shadows.

Cold air swirled around them, but the temperature still rose once they got out of the snow. The walls were grey paneling rather than stone, the material professionally done but aged to the point where it was slowly coming loose. The whole thing gave the hallway an eerie feeling, as if the duo were venturing into a ruin.

"Wah…"

"I don't like this either," Grace muttered, running a gloved hand over the wall. A piece of paneling squeaked, the young woman wincing at the sound as it echoed down the tunnel. She and Billy waited for another shoe to drop, but nothing came except the howling of the wind outside. They each breathed a sigh of relief. "Alright, let's keep going."

Billy padded along, both duck and human keeping their eyes peeled for anything out of the ordinary. A cave like this would normally be nothing more than a short pitstop to conserve and build up some heat, but the metal along the walls indicated that this had, or had previously had, a purpose for something greater. This, however, only seemed stranger when its placement so high up was taken into account.

"Wah," Billy warned, gesturing forward with a wing. Grace squinted into the darkness, the uniform grey of the walls giving way to something a slightly different color. Grace slid off the duck and moved forward, the anomaly slowly clearing into a door. It stood about eight feet tall with a large handle. Hesitant, the human removed one of her gloves and waved her hand over it, a dusting of chemicals falling from her palm.

"Wah?" Billy questioned.

"It's an aerosol mixture of iodine and cyanoacrylate," Grace muttered. "They're usually found in things like superglue, but…" She backed away as parts of the bar of the handle changed color, turning purple. Grace's brow furrowed as she tried to understand at what she was looking. She had been expecting a handprint, but whatever had left behind the evidence she'd found wasn't human. The finger-like extensions that her spray showed were far too long, interspersed with dots that showed whatever had grabbed this handle last had bumps rising along its skin. "What the Hell…?"

"Wah!" Billy blinked, poking her with his beak. Grace turned, the duck gesturing with a wing at the bottom of his feet. "Wah! W-Wah!"

"I can't understand you, Billy," Grace said.

"Wah!" He pointed at the handle. "Wah!" He pointed at the floor, stepping on a space where neither had been before pulling away. He waved his wing over it in the same way Grace had when she was dusting the door. "A wah!"

"Ooookay…?" Grace waved her hand over the space, leaving a dusting of the same chemicals there. Her eyes widened slowly as Billy's footprint appeared, bearing the same dots as those on the handle. "Billy, you're a genius. You recognized those dots as… Wait. Those prints are from a bird?"

Grace turned back to the door, confirming that, though the dots were slightly different as to be expected, they were similar enough to support Billy's hypothesis.

"That's one big-ass bird," she muttered. Billy nodded. "Smart, too, if it can open doors."

"Wah?"

"Yeah, let's see if we can find it." A smile stretched over Grace's lips as she took hold of the handle. "A creature like that… I want to paint it."

Billy swallowed heavily as she opened the door, a slow squeak echoing down the tunnel. Grace slipped through quickly, dripping a lubricant onto the hinges. Billy pushed the metal door open the rest of the way, the whole thing now silent.

The area beyond was clearly more well-kept than the outside, its walls a uniform, clean grey with sections painted the yellow of warning signs. Lights buzzed above, driving away all shadows. The hallway stretched before them, branching off at several points in the distance. The yellow paint on the wall beside them listed this area as D-C-2B.

"This is a big place," Grace observed as a cold breeze snuck past them to blow down into the building. Billy shut the door in response, not wanting such wind to alert any inhabitants to their presence. Grace moved to the first intersection, waving her hand to use the same chemicals as she had before. Footprints appeared on the floor passing by the turn, each 18 inches in length with three, thin, clawed toes ahead and one back claw behind. Grace knelt, inspecting them. "Whatever creature this is, it moves like it has the hips of a woman."

"Wah?"

"You can tell by the tilt of the feet," she explained. "At least, I think so. I've never seen footprints like these. Let's keep going."

The pair followed the footprints around the next corner two corners before they just stopped in the middle of a hallway like any other. There was another door down at the end on the other side of another intersection, but no evidence that the creature they were tracking had made its way to it.

"I don't understand, Billy," Grace muttered, dusting the rest of the hallway to no avail. "The prints are gone."

"Wah?" the duck suggested, flapping his wings.

"I don't think so," the chem-woman said with a shake of her head. "It walked all the way here, so why would it start using its wings inside?"

"I think you should listen to the bird," a feminine voice said from above them, a dangerous undertone lacing the words. Both Grace and Billy spun around, their eyes rising to a line of pipes attached to one wall high above. There, perched on one, was a curvy woman with green hair and a mischievous smile. "He seems to know our kind best."

She was dressed in a green shirt that matched her hair, the word HAPPY printed on it in a darker shade, and a pair of black shorts that showed off her yellow-and-orange legs. They were bird's legs ending in talons that matched the prints they had followed and, where her arms should be, were wings decorated with pale-green feathers. She licked her lips, the temperature around them falling. "I thought I felt the air move. Looks like I get to have a bit of fun, too. It's been so long since I've got to hunt the prey on my own."

Grace and Billy screamed, running the other way.

"There's a door!" Nami noted, the words BISCUITS ROOM stenciled into the wall above it. Sanji overtook them, reaching the door first and forcing it open with a powerful kick. The inside of the room was far from the bleak, metal walls, the floor carpeted in a calming grass color and the walls decorated blue with images of clouds, birds, and rainbows. The pirates forced their way inside only to freeze, many eyes turning on them.

The motion that had been active stopped. Children of various ages turned to see the intruders, said children's heights ranging from four feet to over 20, easily dwarfing even Franky.

"And there's kids now," Amy muttered. "Just perfect."

"W-Who are you?" one of the giant children stuttered, a girl with short, black hair. The blond boy beside her lost his grip on his soccer ball, the toy hitting the ground to show it was as tall as Franky. "Wh-What are you doing here?"

"What do we do?" Sanji hissed. "No one said there would be brats here."

"Are you all from the outside?" another girl asked, this one much shorter than the others. "I hear it's really big and pretty out there."

"We…" Nami trailed off, unsure how to respond or explain their situation. "Well, yes—"

"Are you all the guys that were frozen in that hall?" another kid questioned. "How did you get free? No one has ever gotten free before!"

"No, we—"

"Wait, look!" the giant, blond boy said, his finger pointing at the group. "Look at that guy!"

"He looks just like my picture!" a small boy commented, waving a crayon drawing. "That means… That means..!"

"He's a robot!" every other boy in the room yelled, stars in their eyes. They rushed Franky, one pushing Gin to the side in his haste to get there. Franky laughed as they surrounded him, the cyborg bringing his big arms up.

"You guys like robots, huh?" he chuckled. "Well, I'm actually a super cyborg, but check this out! I can change my hair with the press of a button! Flattop! Afro! Pompadour! Cannon!"

"So cool!" the boys chorused.

"Look at the fluffy racoon!" one of the girls said, a group of them surrounding Chopper.

"I'm a reindeer!" the doctor tried to protest to no avail.

"I've got an extra hand!" Franky bragged, his smaller hand coming out of his bigger one. "You wanna know what it's for? To super pick my nose!" The boys surrounding him laughed.

"Hey, this guy's wearing a dress!"

"It's a robe!" Gin denied, trying to pull the hem of his outfit away from the grabbing hands of the kid tugging at it, the living, severed head still under his other arm. Said head tried to say something, but it was muffled in the side of Gin's clothing.

'Just electrocute the pests,' Rum suggested in his mind.

'Shut up,' the monk mentally shot back.

"You've got a long, square nose," a girl giggled, pointing at Kaku. He tried to wave her off only for a shorter boy to jump and grab him by the nose. His government training kept Kaku from falling, leaving the boy dangling several inches off the ground. He laughed, swinging from the ex-assassin's nose, a position that was none-too-comfortable to the Zoan.

"Please stop," Kaku muttered, his voice having that squeaky tambor that one has when their nose is plugged. This only made the kids around him laugh harder.

"This blond guy had a curly eyebrow!"

"Shut up, kid!" Sanji yelled as he, too, was swarmed by children. "Hey! Get off!"

"Alright everyone, all together!" Franky cheered, the boys around him copying the way he was rolling his arms. "Ssssssuuuuuuppppeeerrrrrr!"

"Ssssuuuppeerrr!" the kids echoed, striking the pose.

"So soft!" several girls sighed, their hands and arms disappearing into the fur of Chopper's Guard Point. "So fluffy!"

"Kids, I'm more'n a long nose," Kaku insisted. "Watch this!" The man pulled the kid off his face before he started to grow, the brown spots of his Beast Form covering his body as Kaku turned into a giraffe. The kids around him cried out in excitement, trying to climb over him as the man essentially became a living playground with a slide.

"You're not helping, Kaku!" Sanji yelled.

"Eyebrow! Eyebrow!" children chanted.

"Shut up about my eyebrow, you little pests!"

"What are we supposed to do with this?" Amy demanded, gesturing at the room as it descended into chaos. Children clambered over Sanji and Gin, laughing at them for the aforementioned character traits, while Franky and Kaku showed off and Chopper tried to escape. The doctor's escape, however, was waylaid as girls —undistracted by his Guard Point's fur— started scratching him under the chin. One of his legs began to thump against the floor uncontrollably.

"We need to get out of here," Nami replied, gesturing to the room. "I don't want Ace out of my sight for longer than need be."

Where she had indicated, one of the children separated from the rest of the crowd. It was the tall, dark-haired girl who had first spoken, the giant child gently walking over to the pair of women. She knelt to be more eye-level with them, her blue eyes swimming with curiosity and, possibly, hope.

"So…" she began, fiddling with her fingers. "Are you all from the outside?"

"We are," Amy nodded hesitantly. "Why?"

"Um…" The girl trailed off, clearly not used to interacting with grown-ups. "Hi… I'm Mocha."

"That's a lovely name, Mocha," Nami said, setting one of her hands on Mocha's as she unconsciously slipped to the motherly voice she always used with Ace. "My name is Nami, and this is Amy."

"In case you forgot, we're being chased," Amy hissed to the navigator.

"Do you have a ship?" Mocha asked.

"We do," Nami answered. "She's a brig sloop with a lion figurehead and her name is the Thousand Sunny. Why do you ask?"

"Does that mean you all are planning on leaving?"

"Well… yes. We didn't exactly plan on being here."

"Th-Then…" Mocha tapped her pointer fingers together, her big eyes glancing away. "Would it be possible… Could you… Could you take us with you?"

"You want us to—?"

"Hey!" a voice yelled from the hallway. "The door to the Biscuit Room is open!"

"Crap, they're catching up," Nami hissed under her breath. She raised her voice. "Everyone! We need to go!"

"Aww," several of the kids whined, Gin, Kaku, and Sanji peeling children off themselves as they finally stopped moving.

"I can breathe again!" the head yelled, falling out of the crook Gin had all but stuffed him into. "Hey! Do you children know a child named Momonosuke?"

The children blinked, their brains trying to comprehend the sight of this bodyless head on the floor yelling at them. They screamed, running away from it.

"Shut up, you moron!" Sanji yelled, punting the head like a ball. Said head let out a cry of pain as it spun through the air before impacting a giant letter block.

"I cannot stop!" the head rebuffed, a lump rising out of his hair. "I must find my boy! I need to know where Momonosuke is!"

Children screamed again.

"The pirates are in here!" a man dressed in a yellow hazmat suit called from the doorway, a host of other similarly-dressed people streaming into the room. "They're scaring the children!"

"Everyone run!" Gin shouted, scooping up the head. The rest of the Straw Hats in the area (and Kaku) followed his lead, fleeing the opposite direction. Tears leaked from Mocha's eyes as she watched the retreating backs of the newcomers before she seemed to make a decision.

"Take us with you!" she begged, the girl pushing herself to her feet and chasing after the group. The rest of the children did the same, one child carrying a basket with a baby taller than even Brook. "They're keeping us here because they say we're sick, but we aren't sick anymore! We want to go home now!"

"Sick?" Chopper questioned only for Kaku to scoop him up. "What do you mean sick?"

"Take us with you!" the other kids demanded, those who were giants carrying those who were not to quickly catch up to the pirates. "Please! We want to go home!"

"Shit!" one of the covered workers cursed, lowering his rifle. "The kids are in the way!"

"Then we'll have to catch them on foot!" another growled, giving chase with an odd, galloping gait. "Capture the pirates!"

"You're pirates?" one of the kids asked.

"That a problem?" Gin grunted.

"It doesn't matter!" Mocha yelled. They were reaching the end of the room, the other exit laying before them. Sanji reached it first, the blond kicking the metal from its hinges. "Please save us! We don't want to be here anymore! We want to go home!"

Nami slowed to a stop, her eyes shadowed.

"We need to go!" Sanji insisted. "Come on, Nami!"

"But—" she tried to protest.

"It's not our job to help every person we meet! They said they were sick, so this could be a hospital for all we know! We…" Sanji withered under the navigator's glare as she came to a decision.

"What're ya doin', Donna?" Gin questioned. "We gotta go!"

"We are going to save these kids," Nami said, no room for argument. "As a mother myself, I can't just stand to the side while these kids talk about wanting to go back to their own parents. I refuse to leave them behind! Gin!" —The monk snapped to attention— "Give these guys a shock!"

A devious smile spread over Gin's lips as he dropped the head. "Yes, Donna."

And he was on the other side, electric wings flaring behind him as a net of lightning divided the room in half. The men in hazmat suits jumped, one unable to stop as he ran into the divider and yelped, creating a larger version of what happens when a bug meets an electric flyswatter. Two of them brought their guns up and fired, the bullets pinging off Gin's Armament Haki.

"My 'pologies, y'all," Gin chuckled. "T'was your fates t' cross th' Straw Hat Pirates, so it's your fates t' fall. I'd say it's nothin' personal, but ya pissed off th' Donna an' I don' wanna lie."

"Don't think you can have all the fun alone!" Franky laughed, planting himself on one side as his body opened to reveal various weapons. "I'm feeling extra super right now!"

"Don't count me out," Sanji commented, lighting a cigarette with Gin electric net. "Nami's made up her mind, and I can't help but be at the beck-and-call of a pretty lady."

"I'll leave them to you!" Nami said. "Everyone else, come with me. We're getting these kids out of here!"

"Put it on top, Grandpa Brook!" Ace cheered, jumping up and down. Brook grinned as well as a skeleton without skin nor lips could and topped off the snowman with a smaller sphere of snow. Ace smiled as Brook lifted him up, the toddler pushing buttons and scrap metal onto the face of the snowman. Brook set him down as he finished, the undead pulling his crown-like hat off with a flourish before plopping it on top of the newest, tallest snowman of the bunch. "Aaand done!"

Old, formerly-deceased musician and young pirate legacy alike stood back and admired their handwork on the shoreline, a host of snow-based simulacrums of their crew staring back. Said snowmen were not heavily detailed, but each boasted enough details to differentiate which represented each member of the crew. The tallest one —that of Brook himself— was five snowballs tall. Most of the rest boasted three while those of Chopper and Ace were only two.

"They look great!" Sunny clapped from atop her cross sail. "I wish I could have helped!"

"It's ok, Sunny," Ace said, raising his arms so Brook could lift him onto his shoulder. Ace grabbed a handful of the skeleton's afro to stay balanced. "Uncle Franky'll make you a way to come with us at some point! We'll make snowmen together then! And look! You're the one that looks the closest!" The boy gestured to the snowman that represented Sunny's Klabautermann, said Klabautermann mostly lacking color and being an indistinct, humanoid form at this stage.

"Raaahahaha!" Sunny laughed, agreeing with the captain's son. "Guess so!"

"I think they turned out wonderfully!" Brook commented, taking in the semicircle of vague copies. They took a moment, admiring them.

Suddenly, however, the snowmen on the far left, those representing Amy, Zoro, Robin, and Billy started to shift, their top halves sliding down and falling to the ground. The one representing Chopper just avoided the slash that ruined the taller images.

"Hey!" Ace yelled as the four simulacrums fell apart. In their place stood a being wielding a sword, though 'stood' may not be the proper word. The thing was only a male torso clad in an orange outfit with a black-and-white striped pattern on one side and a red belt around the waist. Two scabbards hung at its side —one empty— while both the legs and head were missing, the area that would have connected with the neck only a black circle. The torso was balanced on one hand, its other filled with the katana it had used to slice the snowmen apart.

"Dear me!" Brook cried.

"That's so weird!" Ace laughed. "Grandpa Brook, have you seen something like this before?"

"Of course not!" The torso lunged, Brook grabbing Ace and diving away.

"Stay away!" Sunny yelled, the boom of a cannon echoing through the area. The torso backflipped as the snow where it had been exploded with the impact of a cannonball.

"We do not want to kill it!" Brook reminded the living ship while he drew Soul Solid, Ace landing in the snow beside him. "Have at thee!"

The swords in use met with a clang, Brook's arm shaking as he contended with the headless, legless foe. The torso spun, forcing Brook into a series of blocks that caused him to rapidly backtrack.

"Stop!" Sunny ordered, a half-dozen ropes flying from her rigging toward the thing. Their foe barely paused, its sword spinning to cut the ropes to pieces. "What?"

"How are you doing that without eyes?" Brook cried as the torso turned back toward him. "Although, I do not have eyes either, so I suppose I'm the last person that can question such a thing." His eye sockets narrowed as he was forced to block the thing as it lunged for Ace. "Alright, that is enough! You will not get close to young Ace lest you kill me first. As a skeleton, you cannot kill me anyway. Yohoho!"

"Giihihi!" the toddler laughed. "Skull joke!"

"We've got more company!" Sunny warned as yellow figures rose out of the snow, weapons trained on the three-and-a-half beings.

"It's more of those guys that Auntie Grace beat up!" Ace laughed.

"Dammit!" one of the figures cursed. "How are we supposed to move the ship like Master ordered when it's alive? What happened to the guys we had on board?"

"We'll figure it out or die trying," another said. "Kill the skeleton, the samurai body, and the ship if you have to, but don't hit the kid. We'll take him and put him in the Biscuit Room with the others!"

"This island is way more funner than Mommy thought it'd be!" Ace giggled. "Go, Grandpa Brook! Beat 'em up!"

"This is certainly unique," Robin commented as the exploration group took in the sight of the central lake.

"Unique is one way to put it," Usopp grunted, gesturing at the water. "Half of it is on fire and what isn't is full of ice. Unique nothing; that's impossible!"

"You can't say something is impossible when it's right in front of you," Coby said with a shake of his head. "It's definitely weird, though."

"Bigger problem," Merry noted. "How are we gonna get across? I guess we could try going around, but that doesn't feel like the Straw Hat way."

"I know!" Luffy grinned. "We'll swim across!"

"Please recall, Captain, that you, Coby, and I cannot swim," the archeologist reminded.

"What, do you want me, Merry, and Usopp to carry you on our backs?" Zoro questioned.

"Why not?" Luffy asked. Merry and Robin tilted their heads in tandem, Coby practically able to see a cartoon thought bubble of the proposed idea. The image ended with Cartoon Usopp gurgling, he and Cartoon Coby sinking into the deep.

"Yeah, not a fan," Coby sighed. He rocked the dragon egg in his grip, his other hand coming up to stroke his chin in thought. "Hey, Usopp. You had some sort of boat thing back in Kazanonsen, didn't you?"

"What?" Usopp blinked. "Oh. Oh! Yeah, I've got the perfect thing!" The sniper reached into his belt of seeds, pulling out two. He turned to the right, shooting for first one before rapidly firing the second into the water. "Green Stars: Fan Grass and Boaty Banana!"

"Oh, I remember this," Merry nodded, jumping into the giant, banana-shaped plant-boat.

"And we can use my Fan Grass as paddles," Usopp added with a smirk, breaking off a frond from the earthbound flora. Its stalks were tall and thin but ended with a large, flat flair on the end.

"You've got so many cool plants, Usopp!" Luffy grinned. He jumped, balancing on the front of the banana while the others each grabbed a Fan Grass frond and piled in. "Hey, do you think we'll see any other centaurs?"

"I would predict such a thing is highly likely," Robin responded. "Where one is present, more are sure to be. That is the nature of ecosystems."

"I can't wait!" the captain grinned. The legs in his grip kicked, the rubber-man wobbling as he compensated for the disturbance. "Hey, Legs! Stop moving around so much!"

"We've already established they can't hear you, Captain," Coby reminded him.

"Poot!" the legs yelled. "Never have I fought such a battle! Are you the magic swordsman?"

"These things are funny!" Luffy laughed.

"Release that captive child!" the legs continued. Luffy froze, his smile falling away as his eyes narrowed. The young father's crewmates watched as his sense of wanderlust fell away in moments.

"Everyone, hurry up," he ordered. "If somebody has Ace, we can't waste another second."

"Yes, Captain," the group chorused, redoubling the paddling as they made their way to the opposite shore.

End of Chapter 35

Punk Hazard continues as more of the island's secrets appear. I would ask rhetorical questions here like "who is this mysterious master?", but I imagine such a thing is pretty obvious to anyone who's reading. Rather, how do you see these butterflies affecting this arc? How will the marines of G-5 react to meeting Ace in the coming future? Let me know what you think!

In other news, I started a My Hero Academia/Assassin's Creed crossover called A Hero's Creed, so if you're a fan of MHA at least, I'd love to hear what you have to say about it. It's an undersaturated market there if you ask me.

Anyway, that's enough rambling and shameless plugs from me! So, as always,

Read and Review!

-SwordOfTheGods